Catherwood LibraryILR School

IG Metall, one of Germany?s largest and most powerful trades unions, has recently elected Detlef Wetzel to lead the organization and he made it explicit that the union would continue to hold large companies like Volkswagen and ThyssenKrupp to pro-labor pledges they have already agreed to. Mr. Wetzel compared companies moving work to escape unions and take advantage of low wages a loss of democracy and a business model that the workers he supported could not accept. Although he did not name VW?s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant specifically, the union leader stated that he was particularly concerned about German companies moving to states in the Southern U.S. Unlike in the U.S., workers in Germany may engage in solidarity strikes, in which workers may strike to add power to the labor actions taken by other workers at other employers or other plants.